| | | | |

Mesothelioma Awareness Day Shines Spotlight on the Danger of Asbestos

ByAlex Strauss

world_healthOrganizers of the annual Mesothelioma Awareness Day are encouraging patients, families, advocates and those who have lost loved ones to wear blue on Saturday, September 26th to help bring attention to a disease that kills nearly 3,000 Americans annually and as many as 100,000 around the world.

Mesothelioma Awareness Day was organized in 2004 and has since been given official proclamations by both the US Senate and the House of Representatives. It has been a significant force behind the movement to bring more awareness and research funding to this rare and devastating – but preventable – cancer.

Mesothelioma is the most deadly of the diseases caused by exposure to asbestos. It causes cancer cells to grow on the membranes that surround the lungs, heart, or abdominal organs, often many decades after the original exposure. The aggressive nature of mesothelioma and the irregular shape of these membrane tumors make it one of the hardest cancers to treat. Mesothelioma rarely responds to conventional therapies, making the need for research dollars to study alternative treatments even more pressing.

Mesothelioma survivor Paul Kraus is a dramatic example of the potential power of alternative approaches to mesothelioma. At 70, Kraus is the longest-living documented mesothelioma survivor in the world. He was diagnosed in 1997 and told that mainstream medicine could do nothing for him. Doctors did not expect Kraus to live more than six months.

Now, 18 years later, Kraus credits his long survival to radical changes in his lifestyle. He details those changes in his best-selling book “Surviving Mesothelioma and Other Cancers: A Patient’s Guide”, which is available by clicking here.

Like nearly every mesothelioma patient, Kraus was exposed to asbestos unknowingly on the job. To help prevent more cases like Kraus’, Mesothelioma Awareness Day organizers continue to push for an asbestos ban in the US. Fifty-five other countries have banned asbestos, but the US has only agreed to regulate its use and handling. Mesothelioma Awareness Day activities are planned throughout the country.

 

Similar Posts

Mesothelioma survivor Paul Kraus, alive and well 19 years after writing “Surviving Mesothelioma and Other Cancers
| |

Mesothelioma survivor Paul Kraus, alive and well 19 years after writing “Surviving Mesothelioma and Other Cancers

ByAlex Strauss

Paul Kraus is considered the longest documented mesothelioma survivor in the world. He was diagnosed in 1997 with mesothelioma so widespread that he was given little hope of survival. Not willing to give up, he worked with a team of doctors to create his own tailored treatment protocol. This protocol included dramatic life style change, experimental therapies, dietary changes, mind-body medicine, and other modalities. Paul was fortunate. The protocol he and his doctors created helped him keep the mesothelioma in check. His book “Surviving Mesothelioma and Other Cancers: A Patient’s Guide” details his cancer voyage, the decisions he made, and his philosophies about health and healing. This book is now the best-selling mesothelioma book in the world and has inspired…

Doctors Describe "Concrete Therapeutic Approach" for Mesothelioma
| |

Doctors Describe "Concrete Therapeutic Approach" for Mesothelioma

ByAlex Strauss

A team of medical researchers in Italy have achieved what they are calling “excellent” tumor control and survival results in malignant pleural mesothelioma patients using a combination of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. Caused by exposure to asbestos, mesothelioma typically spreads quickly across the lung-encasing membrane called the pleura. There is no known cure but treatments are improving. In the current prospective study, 20 malignant pleural mesothelioma patients underwent radical pleurectomy/decortication followed by high doses of radiation. After surgeons removed as much of the visible mesothelioma tumor and surrounding tissue as possible, patients received 50Gy of radiation to the effected side of their chest, delivered in 25 fractions. Regions of particular concern for mesothelioma regrowth got an extra radiation “boost” to…

Mesothelioma Still Rising Despite Ban in Ireland
|

Mesothelioma Still Rising Despite Ban in Ireland

ByAlex Strauss

A study in Ireland confirms that it can take many years for a ban on asbestos to have a measurable impact on a country’s rates of malignant mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is the most serious of a list of diseases – including lung cancer, pleural plaques, asbestosis, and others – linked with exposure to asbestos dust. Affecting the linings around the lungs and other organs, mesothelioma is often resistant to most cancer treatments and may be fatal within a year of diagnosis. According to the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat, Ireland is one of 55 countries that have enacted some type of asbestos ban. However, although Ireland banned asbestos in 2000, a new study published in Cancer Epidemiology shows that incidence of the…

Does Radiotherapy Reduce Mesothelioma Pain?
| |

Does Radiotherapy Reduce Mesothelioma Pain?

ByAlex Strauss

A new study says there is not enough evidence to support the use of radiotherapy for the treatment of pain associated with malignant pleural mesothelioma. Researchers at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland reviewed a range of past studies on mesothelioma pain and radiotherapy by searching databases that date back as far as 1974. To be eligible to be included in their review, the study had to focus on malignant pleural mesothelioma and radiotherapy given “with the intent of improving pain”. The study also had to report doses and fractionation of the radiotherapy and how the pain responded. In all, the researchers found eight studies on mesothelioma pain and radiotherapy that met the criteria. Two of the studies were prospective…

Website Aims to Protect Homeowners from Mesothelioma
|

Website Aims to Protect Homeowners from Mesothelioma

ByAlex Strauss

Australia’s Cancer Council is trying to educate home renovators about their risk for mesothelioma with a new e-learning course. Australia has one of the highest per capita rates of mesothelioma in the world, largely because of several asbestos mining operations that were once located there. Although asbestos has been banned from building products in Australia since 1989, asbestos-linked diseases like mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis continue to pose a serious health concern. While mesothelioma has traditionally occurred among people exposed to asbestos on the job, Australia is now bracing for another “wave” of mesothelioma victims among homeowners who encounter asbestos while doing their own renovation projects. Cancer Council Australia has launched “kNOw asbestos in your home” in an effort to…

Ape Virus Shrinks Mesothelioma Tumors in Lab
|

Ape Virus Shrinks Mesothelioma Tumors in Lab

ByAlex Strauss

A virus that causes leukemia in gibbon apes may have the power to help fight malignant mesothelioma in people. Gibbon ape leukemia virus (GALV) has been tested for years as a viral vector, a carrier of therapeutic genetic information, in the treatment of various human illnesses, including cancer. A new study in Japan compared GALV with a leukemia virus derived from mice to see which carrier communicated most efficiently with mesothelioma cells. While both types of viruses replicated in most of the mesothelioma cell lines tested, the mouse-derived virus was not effective in a mesothelioma cell line called ACC-MESO-1. In this cell line, only the GALV spread efficiently both in culture and in mice that had been given human mesothelioma…